1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to power management and more particularly to power management in a system having multiple power supplies.
2. Background Information
A power supply generally converts electrical power from one form to another form. For example, a power supply may receive alternating current (“AC”) power at one voltage (e.g., 120 VAC) and generate direct current (“DC”) power at the same or different voltage. In general, less than 100 percent of the input power to a power supply is turned into output power. Most of the energy loss is in the form of heat. A power supply's “efficiency” refers to the amount of output power as a percentage of the input power. For example, a power supply that is 85% efficient generally produces 0.85 watts of output power for each watt of input power. For some power supplies, the efficiency may vary depending on the load placed on the supply. It is generally desirable to improve the efficiency of power supplies.